Listen to a conversation between a student and her Environmental Science professor. Thanks for dropping by, Emily. You\'ve been uncharacteristically quiet in class lately, I know I\'ve been trying to detach emotionally, like a scientist but this unit on plastics it\'s getting I\'m afraid that if I talk about it, I might lose my composure especially when it comes to plastic pollution in the Oceans It\'s perfectly fine to express your feelings in class, overuse of plastic is a global concern. Plastic isn\'t biodegradable.It just breaks down over time into smaller and smaller bits. Most marine species are impacted, even seabirds. Plastic has been ingested by more than 90% of the world\'s seabirds, algae absorb plastic too, and algae are at the bottom of the food chain. So what gives you hope? I don\'t know. I suppose it\'s good that some people started addressing this problem, like how England started taxing plastic bags in supermarkets in 2015 just a few cents per bag, but it led to, like, an 80% reduction in plastic bag use practically overnight. Your midterm projects coming up, how about recommending a way to reduce plastic waste on campus? England\'s success might be a good case study, especially if the amount of plastic entering the waters surrounding England decreased after the tax was implemented. This would support any plastic reduction plan you propose from the university. That makes total sense, but I\'ve already spent time researching another recommendation to present, and I\'m pretty far along on it. Oh, okay. What is it? A publicity campaign to reduce water usage in the residence halls to address prolonged droughts caused by climate change. Nice. My proposal is easy to implement. All people need to do is reduce their shower time to four minutes or less, I\'ve applied for a small grant from the university to buy some cheap, waterproof timers that could be used in the shower stalls. What\'s the average shower length currently, if it\'s already under four minutes? Oh, I really don\'t know how long it is. Why not ask some residents? Then I\'d include at least 30 people of different genders in my sample, get them to log the shower lengths for a week average those results, then cut, say, 30 or 40 seconds off that number. This would provide an evidence based rationale for your recommendation. I guess it would, yeah. Also, how many gallons of water are currently used in the dorms each month on average? This number could be quite motivating for students and provide a baseline to compare to measure the effectiveness of your campaign.